Bigelow Laboratory Awarded More Than $600,000 In Grants

January 31, 2012 at 12:00 am

U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins announce that the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in West Boothbay Harbor a $603,631 grant to conduct biological oceanography research, specifically in the area of iron oxidizing bacteria.

The funded project is under the direction of David Emerson, principal investigator at Bigelow Laboratory.

“This funding will greatly assist the research priorities at the Bigelow Laboratory, specifically in the area of ocean ecosystems and bacteria research,” Senators Snowe and Collins said in a joint statement.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare.”

NSF is the chief funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America’s colleges and universities. In many fields such as mathematics, computer science and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing.